A Sense of Calm
by SpazKit
Summary: A non-romantic Yuna and Auron... thing. Hurt/comfort I guess.


This story has been lurking in the back of my skull for several days. Eee… This is   
not intended to be a romance, so don't worry. Yuna's pov.  
  
  
A Sense of Calm  
  
That first impression you have of awakening, that one thought that emerges from   
all the others, I felt that now. My heavy eyelids took in the small Machina clock   
upon a wooden stool beside my bed… four am. What? I did not remember even   
/going/ to bed, let alone stopping at an inn.  
  
Cold air nipped at my uncovered skin and I hugged the soft comforter to my chin.   
My body warmth had seeped into the bed; I had been here some time.   
Awareness had yet to bless me with its presence, and I fumbled in the darkness   
of my mind to come to some understanding of how I got here. My mind was not   
working right; my thoughts were jumbled and unsteady.   
  
I was vaguely aware of the creaking of a door, someone was entering my room. I   
remember a time when I would be curled up in bed, awake and sniffling, when   
my father would open my door, a small beam of light from the hallway entering   
my dark room. In my own dull state of mine, that blessed word mumbled its way   
past my lips…  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
The presence halted and stiffened. He did not move for some time, and as my   
eyes grew aware of the darkness in contrast to the light, my lids fell closed before   
I could make out my late night visitor. Daddy… I felt an unbidden tear track   
across my face, mingling with the hair that rested upon my cheek. Where are you   
daddy?  
  
I was almost unaware as the being crossed the carpeted floor of the room   
silently, making haste to the bedside. I was sniffling into the pillow when the   
depression in the mattress pulled my curled form into the stranger. In a false   
hope, my sleep-induced mind reached out for that figure. My hand wrapped itself   
around an arm, the smooth skin of the limb tensing as I touched it. No… not my   
father. My father was never reserved around me.  
  
In desperation, I muffled my cry into the pillow. Not my father. My father was   
gone, and I was so very alone without him. I felt my haggard breaths come faster   
as I cried, my mind in a state of fog and exhaustion. Please… I felt a child-like   
aspect of my being come to surface, reducing me to nothing more than a five-  
year old. Please daddy, come back. I want to see you again…  
  
A large and heavy hand was placed upon my cheek, a rough and callused thumb   
making a futile attempt to wipe away my tears. Not my father. My father's nimble   
hands were like a whisper, I remember them as smooth and steady against me   
as he held me. But this hand was large and warm, and as it slid to my shoulder,   
another joined it beneath my back as the stranger lifted me to a kind of sitting   
position, my frame leading into his torso and lap.   
  
The scent of the stranger was dark and mysterious, like the afternoon breeze in   
autumn. Not my father. My father smelled of a cool summer morning, his smile   
infectious in the dawn. This man was not who I wanted him to be, and yet his   
touch was welcomed by my befuddled mind. Who are you then, if you care so   
much and are not the one I lost so long ago?  
  
I raised my cheek against the figure's taught chest, tears tracking across his   
shirt. My misted eyes found two pieces of glass reflecting the hallway's faint light.   
I reached a trembling hand to those glasses, my muddy thoughts preventing me   
from realizing the audacity of my actions. I removed the darkened lenses and   
then I realized-   
  
Not my father, but his most trusted guardian.  
  
A small gasp escaped my lips. The realization of my actions dawned upon me in   
slow motion. My tearing eyes fell downwards out of respect, and I attempted to   
stifle my tedious crying. I realized this had happened before, once, when I was   
younger. My father had left me in the care of this man as he had journeyed to the   
temple in Bevelle for a meeting of great importance. I awoke that night in tears, a   
horrible nightmare clinging to my mind. Auron had entered the room in a panic,   
his eyes blinking rapidly to clear the fog from his just-awakened mind. He knelt   
by my bed and stayed with me until the nightmares fell away. I had awoken to the   
smiling face of my father looking down at me from behind Auron's slumped and   
sleeping form.  
  
Now, I felt that same hand gently holding my damp face to his chest. After a time,   
I felt the tears dry and my eyelids droop. I felt the guardian lay my head back to   
the pillow with the utmost of care, and pry the glasses from my fingers. He turned   
to leave when my hand shot out from the covers, gripping his scarlet robe with   
more strength than I knew I had. Please… don't leave me…  
  
After a few minutes of silence, a deep sigh of resignation came from the   
swordsman. He sat again, his back to me as he fiddled with something by his   
face. I heard the gentle plop of his gray collar hitting the carpeted floor and the   
click of his glasses being folded as he set them next to the clock. He sighed   
softly again, lifting a leg to be crossed as he removed his heavy boots. More   
movement that I could not see; the muffled sound of things being set upon the   
ground.   
  
I was afraid he was going to leave me when he stood, and I felt these strange   
child-like fears of loneliness and abandonment. His tall frame went to the opened   
door and shut the light away, leaving the room in darkness. There was a rusting   
of cloth as he removed the well-worn scarlet cloak and he set it upon the bedpost   
by my feet.   
  
I really didn't feel like a summoner anymore, I just felt like a lost and abandoned   
child. I felt like the only thing I ever loved in my youth was taken from me, and yet   
there was this one thing that remained that I had not known in so long. A lost   
guardian, a man I had not known in ten years. Regardless of his feelings for me   
now, I knew that I would always cherish him from the days of my youth, the   
young energetic man whom had stood by my father, always.  
  
I felt the rush of chilled air as he lifted the comforter from the bed sheets. His   
thick body was heavy and sank into the mattress as he slid next to me, making   
sure to leave a foot wide gap between us. His fine hair, still held by the green tie,   
fell to his shoulder, and I watched in reverence as he closed his eye. Even   
through the space between us, I could feel the warm emanating from his body.   
  
I don't know why I said it, I guess the boundaries between thoughts and words   
were thin in my exhaustion, but I said it nonetheless.   
  
"I miss him."  
  
My words were soft and almost choked, and I turned away from him, my shoulder   
hitting cold and unused sheet as I turned to my side. At first, I thought that he had   
already gone to sleep, and had not heard my confession.   
  
I felt the indentation of the mattress before I felt his hand touch my side. I was   
somewhat surprised to feel it trembling against my arm. He shifted his position,   
the mysterious man whom I had not known in ten years gently whispering into my   
ear.  
  
"I… I know."  
  
I could not know what had happened to bring such emotion to his raspy voice,   
but I know he felt the same way about my father. I turned back, colliding with his   
thick body. He was taken aback as I clutched his shirt, tears sprouting anew from   
my eyes. I could feel him tense under the leather of his shirt, but he said nothing.   
After a few moments of getting used to my frame crushing into his, he relaxed   
and gently murmured reassuring words of comfort and peace, as he had done in   
my youth. His chin rested upon my head as I felt myself succumb to exhaustion.   
Auron was not my father… but he was someone that could sooth away the tears   
and pain. For that I was ever grateful.  
  
***************************  
The morning came all to soon. I was in far better control of myself when I awoke;   
a good night's rest is wondrous for one's mind. Auron was gone from my side, as   
could be expected of the reserved guardian. I heard his deep voice else ware,   
outside of my room. I heard footsteps pause outside.  
  
"And how is she?" I heard Lulu inquire as she and Auron stood outside my door,   
apparently unaware that I was awake.   
  
"Better than last night. We should be more careful of her physical health. It does   
not do her well to pass out during a meal," Auron rumbled, unconsciously   
explaining what happened to me yesterday. "She was exhausted," He sighed.   
"However much of a setback, I must insist we wait until she is rested. It will do   
her no good if she attempts to continue on in this condition."  
  
I heard Lulu's grunt of agreement, and the two walked away. I closed my eyes   
again, thankful for the few precious moments of peace. My father would have   
been proud of Auron, the man who gave everything for his summoner. My father   
had been a lucky man to have such a wonderful guardian. And then I realized, I   
was ever so lucky to have him as well.  
  
  
*** Awwww. Cutecutecute! :D I dunno, I really like the way I did this. Hope you   
did to. Eeee.  
  
-Spazkit 


End file.
